Formal complaints procedure and ombudsman details

[Damien133]

I've never come across a company that deals with complaints so badly, they just fob you off and then close the message thread. If you call them they tell you you have to send a message on the website, send you some gibberish reply that doesn't answer any of your questions and makes no sense and then close the thread again. They refused to give me any formal complaint procedure or ombudsman details even though I repeatedly and specifically asked for them during a call that lasted half an hour. How can a company the size of Airbnb behave like this?!?

They sent me a mentally ill alcoholic guest who after checkout proceeded to move to a spare room in the house and continue living there for several days. Initially we didn't even know she was there because she just stayed locked in the room and never came out. When we eventually gained access with police and social services we discovered she had urinated, deficated and vomited in the room and bed. Obviously the bedding and mattress/pillows/duvet had to be thrown out and replaced and the room thoroughly cleaned as well as the other guest compensated (who unsurprisingly cancelled and checked out early). I only claimed for the material cost of replacing the items using cheap replacements from Primark, a local bed shop and eBay (about £250 total) but airbnb said that because another guest had already checked in to the original room that the problem guest was in that they could not offer me a refund "to protect the guest and the host"... What?? That doesn't even make any sense. We have a police report so there's no question who is to blame! Every attempt to contact them they just fob you off and hope you will go away, which obviously makes me more determined to make sure as many people know about it as possible 😉

They're a shoddy company and they clearly do not really check out the people they are sending to your home because they really don't care if you have a problem as long as they can charge both the host and the guest a commission on the booking. The more guests they send to a host, the more money airbnb make so they lower their basic checking standard so that anybody can basically come and then take no responsibilty if there's a problem.

I'm slowly moving back to renting to tenants instead because although I receive more money in the summer months than a basic rental, I receive less in the winter and it's really is not worth the huge amount of extra work involved when it becomes very clear that the illusion of the host guarantee and the £500 deposit I have placed on the listing are worth nothing in reality

[Anonymous]

@Damien133  It's true, the "deposit" is not really a deposit with Airbnb, as you have no control over it. 

It's also true that anyone can set up an Airbnb account and book a place in a matter of minutes; it's up to hosts to screen their guests, keep track of their property, and resolve issues such as overstays (your guest's behavior sounds more like a home-invasion than an overstay). Just as with almost every major web platform, there is no vetting process for becoming a customer, and of course you already know that.

What I don't understand in your post, though, is that you repeatedly mention that Airbnb "sends you" these guests. Do you mean that an Airbnb rep personally called you and demanded that you accept a guest outside of the booking protocol, rather than the guest directly requesting your property on their own free will?

[Damien133]

@Anonymous 

Hahaha really? you really don't understand what I mean when I say airbnb "Sends me" the guests??  Hahaha!   I have no idea who's booking via airbnb if they're first time guests with no reviews and airbnb apparently don't really care either as they take little or no responsibilty if there is a problem even though they have provided me the guests.  Airbnb need to either check people or for an easier fix, take a security deposit from them in case of such incidents until the guest has gained trust and good reviews.  This would cover the host and reduce the risk to the host in situations such as I experienced.  As things stand airbnb push hosts to turn on instant book, suggest to charge rediculously low prices and to basically accept anyone because more guests and more bookings mean more profit for Airbnb.  The whole time airbnb push for higher standards for less and less cost.  Good for the guests but not for the hosts.  My experience with Airbnb is that they really don't care very much about their hosts, it's all about the guest.  Afterall the guest can go elsewhere but there's not really much in the way of alternatives for hosts until an airbnb competitor arrives so that's proabably why they don't care too much

[Emily145]

AirBnB need to link guest accounts to verified phone numbers and make it so that guests cannot create a new account to escape bad reviews or flagging of a previous account. Right now it is far too easy for problem guests to simply close their account and pretend they're brand new to AirBnB and it prevents us hosts from warning each other as the system is supposedly intended to allow for.

[Rebecca181]

@Damien133 I suggested to Airbnb that they create some sort of 'Grievance' process over a year ago. Of course, they will not ever do it, as this would mean that they would need to be accountable for their behavior and their frequent poor treatment of hard-working hosts. 

[Damien133]

@Rebecca181Yes I know, they don't care about the hosts as the hosts have nowhere else to go so can be treated like shyte. I think taking a decent deposit from new guests would be a solution until they have gained enough good reviews and trust because as things stand bad gusts can serially abuse their hosts and then just open up another account if there's an issue with no come-back

[Rebecca181]

@Damien133 Agreed. They don't give a shyte because they only care about big commercial listers, even if they are sleazy and run illegal, unsafe operations. We are simply proles at this point - Not yet disposable (given the IPO is coming) but not worthy of humane and respectful treatment, either.

[Debra48]

Yes, it is true that you have a window of time to file your guest complaint with Airbnb. It is either 1) until the next guest checks in or 2) within a limited 1-2 week window of time after the guest check-out date. You have learned this lesson the hard way, it appears. Also, it is always good to look at guest reviews from other hosts. I personally am going to look very carefully at prospective guests who have had less than four solid reviews, and may even require collecting a security deposit outside the Airbnb platform by those who haven't had a number of really good reviews. 

[Damien133]

@Debra48 

Yes I definetly will make sure I report anything immediately in future, I never want a repeat of that!  Taking a security deposit for guests with zero reviews is not a bad idea either as Airbnb don't bother doing anything like that.  Also an option to set a review threshold for instant book would be a good idea so that you could maybe set that only guests with x number reviews and an average of at least 4.0 out of 5 are allowed to instant book and any others can send you a request

[Nicole2748]

@Damien133 @Debra48

I agree with you 1000% about only allowing highly rated guests to instantly book. I was under the impression only guests who are verified vets of AirBnb could do certain things, but thats not the case. I also feel like the review process is a free for all for guests who have 5 star hotel chain expectations of 24hr staff availability when they’re staying less than a week & charged less than $20 cleaning fee for their benefit, to leave revenge reviews because I wasn’t at her beck & call 24 hrs/day for non-emergent questions after 11pm on a normal adult human being’s work night! 

[Olímpio0]

LISTINGS BLOCKED BY PROBLEMS WITH MASS TAX CONNECT

I share my dissatisfaction with Airbnb because my ads have been blocked for more than a week, even though I have called several times and sent many help request messages to website support operators.

I own a house with 3 apartments in Somerville, Massachusetts, in the United States of America, with all 3 apartments listed on the Airbnb website, where I have a Superhost.

Here is a summary of the problem in question.  After receiving an alert from the Airbnb website that my ads could be blocked due to lack of tax data on my MassTaxConnect registration (state tax information collected from the Massachusetts Department of Revenue), I placed a phone call on February 22  2020 to that department, where I was able to report and resolve the pending issues, with the help of that department's clerk.  At the time, I was given the certificate number, being instructed to pass it on to Airbnb, in order to end the blocking of my ads related to that property.

After proceeding according to the guidance received and informing the certificate number both by message and by telephone on February 20, I was instructed to wait for a call from a specialist to have my ads unblocked.  I inform you that so far I have not received any feedback from Airbnb, despite having called again a dozen times and, in all of them, hearing that someone from the specific sector would contact me.

In order to exhaust my possibilities of trying to solve the problem, I entered my Login and password in the MassTaxConnect system to see if new issues arose.  That's when I realized that there are pending issues regarding the amount of taxes collected on vacation rentals (in my view, these values ​​are automatically collected by the Airbnb website at the time of vacation rentals, as these amounts appear as discounted from guests by Airbnb in all  reservations).  This is a question that remains and that is possibly the reason why my ads remain inactive.

I share that I am experiencing the same difficulties arising from the COVID-19 pandemic that most hosts are experiencing, having canceled all reservations in March and the vast majority of reservations in April and May.  When analyzing the amount of bills for the fixed cost of a property like mine in a high-cost region of the United States of America, the reason for my great concern and dissatisfaction with the apparent neglect of the Airbnb website ...  in this way, I request the necessary urgency in resolving my situation so that I can regain my reservations, as soon as the situation of force majeure caused by the pandemic ceases.

[Kerry430]

air bnb have not paid me for 2 months and said it was because i needed to verify myself, i did that when i joined, i have done it over and over again, they wont deal with complaints, just had a message from an employee saying im not on duty im here to help what is that going to do, i have a new house ready its going on another site now

[Kerry430]

air bnb have not paid me for 2 months they owe me over £1000 its causing me problems and i just get passed around nobody can deal with complaints, i used to work for BT and they cannot fool me. Nobody can deal, they keep saying i nedd to verify, i have done that time and time again.

[Helen3]

Have you tried them on their social media @Kerry430  if not do try them on FB, Instagram and Twitter.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

**[Content removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines]